How to send large files online

We have often found that many people try sending large file attachments via e-mail. The main problem with this is that e-mails often struggle with receiving files larger than roughly 5 or 6MB, which leads to high bandwidth usage that could potentially cause your website to exceed it’s limit and go offline.

Why does exceeding bandwidth cause my website to go offline? Each website on a server is assigned a limit of disk space and bandwidth. In order to maintain a high level of up-time service to all our clients, sites which exceed their limits are automatically put on hold in order to protect the other websites going down with it. Each site is given ample disk space and allowances, but if your website requires more on a regular basis, we can offer upgrades.

How do other companies offer unlimited hosting? There are many low cost web hosting companies who claim to have “unlimited” web space and bandwidth. However, they often do have limits which are kept discreet under “fair usage” policies and other disclaimers. Their business model usually works by overselling space they have, assuming that their clients won’t all be using the resources at the same time (similar to a Gym membership). The main disadvantage of this business model is that with the web, there often can be a huge influx of traffic (such as when a company chooses to run a promotion). This causes instability and often results in all of the websites going offline on a server, instead of one.

So how can I share large files with my customers online? There are a few online services that specialise in online storage and sharing large files. Many of which offer free services with a limit of 500MB-2GB. We highly recommend using a service called DropBox. Their free service allows you to store and share files up to 2GB in total. Another service, called YouSendIt, allows you to upload files and send a link for your customers to visit and download.